Omani newspaper under threat of being shut down

New York, August 12, 2011--The Sultanate of Oman is threatening to shut down the independent newspaper Al-Zaman for publishing an article alleging corruption in the Ministry of Justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The article's author, prominent Omani journalist and filmmaker Youssef al-Haj, stands trial on Sunday and could face prison time if convicted.

"The Omani authorities are engaging in retaliatory tactics
against Youssef
al-Haj for his critical writing," said Mohamed Abdel
Dayem, CPJ Middle East and North
Africa program coordinator. "The steps taken by the Omani
judiciary suggest that this is a political vendetta rather than an effort to
apply justice."

Al-Haj has written widely on social and
political issues and in defense of human rights and freedom of expression in Oman. He has protested in front of the Ministry of
Information demanding the right to a free press. In the past, he was
interrogated for articles he wrote on three separate occasions.

Al-Haj is being investigated for a May 14 article alleging that the justice
minister and his deputy refused to grant a salary and grade increase to Haroun al-Mukeebli, a long-time civil
servant, even though Omani law details
a specific salary grade for the position, local and international human
rights activists reported. According to the article, al-Mukeebli attempted to bring his case to
court but the vice president of the Supreme Judicial Council intervened to
disrupt the proceedings and ordered him to give up his right to dispute his
superior's decision.

On July 5, the journalist was called in for questioning
at the public prosecutor's office without his lawyer present. He was charged
with "insulting the minister of justice and his deputy," "attempting to create
a division in society," "abusing the judiciary in Oman,
"violating the publications and publishing law," and "practicing a profession
without a permit from the Ministry of Information," according to CPJ's review
of documents from Omani authorities. On July 8, the minister of information
banned al-Haj from publishing or writing articles. The prosecutor's office told
him that the justice minister had filed a case accusing him of "insulting his
dignity," according to local human rights
activists.

Local human rights activists also reported that the Al-Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim al-Ma'mari was interrogated
along with al-Mukeebli. On
Tuesday, prominent Omani citizens, among them civil-society activists, lawyers,
and journalists, issued a statement condemning the prosecutor for seeking to
shut down Al-Zaman, saying the action
would "take us back to a world of repression and restriction of freedoms,"
according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Quds
al-Arabi.

EDITOR'S NOTE:The
headline of this article was changed to reflect that the Omani intelligence
agency was not involved in this case.